Chapter 53
"The reason I called you all here is simple... With the casino opening in a week, we need to discuss what roles everyone will have."
In a dimly lit bar with a bewitching atmosphere, tucked away in a residential neighborhood near the center of Valman, Kagami slammed his hand down on the table and spoke with a grave expression.
Kagami, Alice, Kururu, and Tina sat at a table in the middle of the bar, while Takako, Menou, and Rex sat at the counter, silently watching Kagami.
Behind the counter, Kenta Uros was polishing glasses in Takako's place, though she was supposed to be the bar's manager.
A brief silence followed Kagami's opening statement. Then, as if to break it, Takako silently raised her hand with a smooth, sweeping motion.
"I'd like to be a bunny girl."
The instant Takako said this, everyone there was struck with terror.
They were so terrified that cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. Menou, seated beside Takako, gaped at her in utter shock, as if thinking, 'Is she... serious?' Takako, meanwhile, stared back at Menou with a perfectly serious expression, her hand still raised with unmistakable confidence.
About a month had passed since the Demon King's army attacked Salmaria.
On the day they fought Estellera and the Demon King's army, Kagami had been unable to move for an entire day after using Limit Release. By the next day, however, he had recovered enough to collect the money dropped by the monsters at the site of the battle in Atros. According to Kagami, those ungrateful hyenas had left him with less than three gold in total.
Of course, the city hailed him as the hero who had saved Salmaria. But Kagami had no particular need for honors, and before the city could even welcome him, he set out for the Demon King's castle with Takako, Alice, and Menou.
Rex and the others followed them to the Demon King's castle, but it was completely deserted. Normally, the Demon King's dense magical power would pour forth as purple mist, and the monsters created by that magic would fill both the grounds and the castle itself. But no mist had formed at all. The place had become nothing more than a magnificent old castle perched atop a sheer cliff.
In the end, all they found at the Demon King's castle was about twenty gold worth of jewels. They hadn't expected to find the Demon King or Estellera there in the first place, and neither was anywhere to be seen. With no progress to show for their efforts and Salmaria feeling too uncomfortable to stay after they'd been treated like heroes, Kagami and the others returned to Valman.
Rex and his party, who had also set out to defeat the Demon King, had lost sight of their greater purpose and didn't know what to do, so they returned to Valman with Kagami.
Whether they wanted to defeat the Demon King or save him, the fact remained that they needed 10,000 gold. They might be able to fight him after a year had passed, but based on the battle in Salmaria, they expected to suffer heavy losses. For that reason, Rex and the others decided to help Kagami gather the 10,000 gold.
Of course, they had no intention of defeating the Demon King. They simply agreed with Kagami's resolve and wanted to learn more by his side.
'First, I want to learn. Then I want to decide what to do of my own free will. Will you let me learn from you?'
Kagami gladly agreed, and together they set their sights on the ambitious goal of gathering 10,000 gold. The only exception was Parna, who remained firmly opposed to coexistence with the demons.
"M-Master Takako? I think there are other jobs that would suit you much better."
"You think there's a job more suited to me than being a bunny girl...?"
Takako's fervent desire to become a bunny girl made the terror in the room mount even further.
As soon as they returned to Valman, Kagami and the others discussed how to gather 10,000 gold. Kagami's total assets at the time came to 5,547 gold, meaning they needed to raise about 5,000 more within a year. One idea Kagami proposed was to build a casino.
He thought that setting high stakes at the casino and targeting wealthy nobles would bring in substantial profits. Of course, depending on who won, the casino itself might have to pay out, so there was a risk. The plan was to prepare and come up with games that gave the casino an advantage.
They asked Kururu, a member of the royal family, if she could contribute any money. Apparently, she didn't have much of her own, and asking her father was unlikely to help. For some reason, before setting out on her journey, Kururu had also asked for some of the powerful equipment and items kept at the Guild, but her request had been rejected with a single, "No."
Takako thought they might be given money if they explained the situation, so Kururu returned to the kingdom to ask again. But even then, all she got was the same unwavering, "No."
'They asked us to defeat the Demon King, so what does it mean that they won't help us because of money?'
Based on Kagami's remark, they suspected the kingdom might be connected somehow to the system of the world Estellera had spoken of. But in the end, they had no way to prove it, and their only option was to gather the 10,000 gold themselves.
Building and preparing the casino had cost 546 gold. They still needed to earn nearly 5,000 gold within the remaining year.
Kagami had concluded that running an ordinary casino wouldn't earn them 5,000 gold in a year. He had various other ways of making money in mind, but for now, they had gathered to prepare the casino for its opening in a week.
"Takako-dono... I think you should manage the bar inside the casino."
"Oh, Menou-chan? Are you telling the manager what to do?"
One glare from Takako was enough to make Menou falter. Thanks to Kagami's efforts—and a bit of luck—they had found the Spawn Block that had been generated again, and Menou, like Alice, had been given cloth to suppress her magical power.
After that, Menou was able to live under the same conditions as humans. For the past month, she'd been helping Takako at the bar and using the money she earned to give Alice an allowance, leading an ordinary life.
"Takako-chan as a bunny girl... Well, I think she'd be too much for the guys to handle. It'd be too stimulating. Not good for their education. I mean it."
Kagami replied to Takako's perfectly serious proposal with an equally serious expression.
"I-I also think Takako-san as a bunny girl would be too much... In all kinds of ways."
"Oh... Even you, Alice-chan? I suppose so... My allure might just be too much, wouldn't it?"
Without meeting Takako's eyes at all, Alice replied, "Yeah... I guess so."
For the past month, Alice had accompanied Kagami on his travels to build the casino and gather money. Alice stuck by Kagami like a sibling, never wanting to leave his side, and had been supporting him constantly under the pretext of doing it 'for Kagami-san.'
At first, Kagami had thought Alice might just get in the way, but Alice had been so capable that Kagami found the help invaluable.
"I suppose it would be bad for your eyes if I were a bunny girl, wouldn't it?"
"Exactly. It'd be so bad for your eyes you'd melt. Anyway, I'll leave you in charge of the bar."
After Kagami emphasized his point one last time, Takako sighed and agreed, saying, "I suppose I have no choice."
"I'll let Kururu-chan be the bunny girl instead."
"What!? N-No, I absolutely refuse to wear such a lewd outfit!"
"Then what are you planning to do?"
"That's what we're here to decide!"
Kururu shouted this at Takako, her face bright red.
For the past month, Kururu, like Alice, had accompanied Kagami and supported him as a healer. She'd also helped Takako run the bar and assisted with the casino's construction, all while staying in Valman. Though she'd been raised as royalty, Kururu had also traveled as an adventurer, so she'd adapted to the common folk's way of life without any trouble.